Mercer is talking about the new Liberal "supporter" category, which is aimed at opening the leadership vote to make it more like a U.S.-style primary. Anyone interested in the party can sign up and cast a ballot online.

"Now some people think this is very dangerous. That the Tories are going to fire up the high speed internet in the secret war room and the next thing you know a Labrador retriever’s going to win the race. But shenanigans aside, it is an astounding experiment in democracy," Mercer said.

It could also turn out to be an astounding failure, but we'll just have to wait until April 2013 to find out.